Andor: Who Else Knows?

 "No. I want the names I don't know."

It's feeling more and more like Rogue One. Lots of Krennic. Cassian is with K-2SO, while the rebels are established on Yavin, becoming increasingly disciplined, leaving behind the late Luthen and the now-desperate Kleya. The episode, ending on a cliffhanger- Kleya is in hiding, so will Cassian or the Imperials get to her first? And yet, in the episode's standout scene, it becomes clear that Kleya realises she is doomed, and there's no place for her on Yavin. All that's left is to tell Cassian the vital information about the Death Star before she dies.

Meanwhile, there's the theme of whether or not to follow orders. The Rebels are increasingly disciplined and hierarchical, and Cassian and his accomplices are defying orders in rescuing Kleya... yet she genuinely does have vital information. Meanwhile, Dedra has been cutting corners and breaking rules, also in genuine pursuit of the Imperial cause. But fascism won't tolerate mavericks. I suspect her fate will not be good.

Not to forget, of course, that this is all a bloody tense thriller. The episode ends with Cassian and Kleya still on Coruscant, hunted, and just one episode to go...

Andor: Make It Stop

 "Am I your daughter now?"

Not for the first time... wow.

Ever since that speech last season, it's been foreshadowed that Luthen knows he'll never live to see the promised land, to get the glory and the acclaim and the medals, even if the Empire is defeated. And recently, as we've seen, it's been getting harder and harder to keep the façade. Luthen was always going to get caught eventually. Even the framing of the "previously on" makes it clear that this episode is to see it happen.

And it's suitably dramatic. Jung reveals how the net is closing in on both Luthen and himself, and that the Empire is building a huge new weapon (and yes, we, the viewers, know damn well what it is), which is what Ghorman and many other things were really about. And Kleya will doubtless impart that knowledge.

But not Luthen. At last we get the confrontation scene between him and Dedra. He's doomed, but he's managed to set up a Rebellion on Yavin. Horrifyingly, he attempts suicide to ensure he can't be interrogated, and Dedra- who's overstepped the mark one too many times here- panickingly gets him some medical attention.

We get flashbacks. Luthen was once a soldier who deserted, disgusted by the atrocities he'd been expected to perform... and Kleya was a captive child whom he freed and raised in his own inimitable way, mentoring her in the arts of resistance. 

So yes, it's exciting seeing Kleya do her action stuff to get to Luthen and let him safely die... but it's really about the tears, and how she kisses the forehead of the man who raised her. This is tense, exciting, emotional, brilliant stuff. Again, wow.

And... no Cassian at all.

Andor: Who Are You?

 "Rebellions are built on hope."

Wow. There was only one way this episode was going to go- the Empire manufacturing a riot on Ghorman to justify the "crackdown", straight from the fascist playbook- but seeing things unfold, slowly and inevitably, was brutal. This episode is just extraordinary.

It all unfolds in slow motion. The demonstration. The careful escalation of imperial policing. The cynical use of a sniper to fire on the Empire's own troops. And then the use firstly of Stormtroopers and then of unstoppable droids that simply hurl demonstrators into the air. The effect is one of real horror. And... yeah, all while disturbing things are happening in the USA right now, except their Palpatine is much more orange and much less intelligent.

Then there's the tragedy of Syril and Dedra. Syril always was, despite the career advancement, a pawn. And the moment where he confronts (and, implicitly, dumps) Dedra for her amoral and appalling behaviour carries so much power. His death in the riot is almost an afterthought, the last words he ever hears being Cassian's "Who are you?".

Denise Gough is superb as she portrays Dedra's utter despair at the end. She's done so much, made such terrible moral sacrifices... and for what?  

The final shot is of Syril's mum, inconsolable. She may not have been the best mother, but in the end she was in many ways right.

Again... wow.

Andor: Messenger

 "He's a messenger. There's some place he needs to be."

The moment epitomises by the quote is truly chilling to all those of us who have seen Rogue One. It's as though, via the Force, fate somehow exists, at least for certain individuals, and Cassian is one of them. Yes, there's some minor drama in that Cassian expresses scepticism about the Force healer and Bix can't help believing... but we, the viewers, know that Cassian is on an unavoidable journey to sacrifice and death.

As is Ghorman. Another year has passed, and the Empire has fine tuned its narrative of "terrorist acts", ready to justify its cynical destruction of Ghorman via propaganda. This thread has been woven very well indeed throughout the series (there are some very obvious real world examples!), and now a visibly nervous Dedra has to put the final stages of the plan into action. And Syril, despite her obvious affection for him, is kept in the dark, a pawn. No doubt this will go well and they will both live to enjoy their "reward"...

The Rebellion is now slowly growing at the base at Yavin which we know from the films. Yet there's starting to be a bit of a crack within the Rebellion, between Luthen and Yavin, which is interesting. So, when Cassian and Wilmon head to Ghorman to try to kill Dedra, this immediately causes conflict wit the Yavin hierarchy and Vel. Power seems to be shifting away from Luthen, perhaps?

Things are getting closer to the world of the original trilogy, yet the mood is one of deep foreboding. I'm absolutely fascinated to see where this is all going.

Andor: What a Festive Evening

 "You'll make up for this forever..."

Wow. Even by Andor standards this is quite an episode.

We begin with an intense and very revealing scene: last episode Cassian was distinctly unimpressed with the amateur and doomed nature of the putative Ghorman rebellion, seeing that it would be a self-destructive gesture. He cares about people. Yet Luthen sees things differently. He cares only for the rebellion, the greater good, and cares not if people have to be sacrificed... hence a fascinating row.

And then Cassian finds out about Luthen almost recruiting Bix for a mission last episode: Luthen, utterly amoral yet with a social conscience, in the abstract at least(!), is manipulating them. And, indeed, everyone. He's a fascinating character, on the side of "good" yet in some ways as amoral and manipulative as any of the imperials.

So, despite the imperials' plotting (poor Syril, for example, doesn't know the whole picture), Luthen's fingers are in all the pies here. Bix and Andor persuaded to go on a mission together. A genuinely captivating sequence, at at posh party (cameo from Bail Organa!) with Kleya trying to remove a listening device from an antique... successfully, but not in a way as to dissipate the general air of foreboding.

And, of course, the mission on Ghorman. As soon Cinta and Vel kissed I knew that happy-ever-afters were out of the question. But ouch, Vel's speech at the end is so powerful.

This is, so far, even better than the first season.

Andor: I Have Friends Everywhere

 "Revolution is not for the sane..."

I like where this season seems to be going more and more, as we dig ever deeper into both the moral compromises and the personal costs of rebelling against totalitarianism. All this, and it seems Ruby Wax is a big TV star in the Empire...

We see Cassian, with his new disguise, beginning to infiltrate himself into Ghorman and make contact with the rebels, at first disappointing them with his caution. The situation is, of course, highly complicated: the rebels think they're manipulating Syril, but he (with Dedra) is actually manipulating them. This is high stakes ten dimensional chess.

Meanwhile, Luthen sees that Bix isn't doing so well mentally- the constant fear and stress of rebellion takes its toll. But Luthen himself doesn't react well to the prospect of one of his bugs being discovered. The stress of spinning all those plates...

But most intense of all, perhaps, are Wilmon's experiences. He spends so long training one of Saw's underlings, only for said underling to be shot as a traitor... then we get a fascinating scene with Saw, who gets sort of his own version of Luthen's "What do I sacrifice? Everything!" from last season: he knows damn well he will never live to see freedom, so what's the point in maintaining one's grip on sanity?

Utterly gripping television.

Andor: Ever Been to Ghorman?

 "Everyone has their own rebellion, right...?

Yes, I know: I'm well behind on Andor. But I'll keep on at it...

A year has passed since last episode. Cassian and Bix are living in furtive domesticity on Coruscant, finding relative (but only relative) safety in being needles in the mother of all haystacks. But Bix is still troubled by flashbacks of a certain atrocity committed in the name of the rebellion, leading to some interesting debate between the two of them.

Yet this episode is clearly setting up all sorts of skulduggery, and deceptions within deceptions, as the Empire makes its plans ton seize Ghorman and mine it for its resources, rendering it uninhabitable. Hence a year of relentless anti-Ghorman propaganda, hence the Rebellion and the Empire turning their attention to it... yet Luthen can glean little, and the imperial manipulations proceed, with Dedra and Syril's undercover mission seeming to show the first fruits of success.

And it looks as though Cassian is about to go into Ghorman, too, to learn what's going on. I'm sure, with all this dialogue about him protecting Bix, that she'll be fiiiiine.

This is, really, an episode of set-up. Yet there's plenty of nuance and food for thought on the harsh realities and the compromises which must be made when living under tyranny. Superb television, as ever.

Andor: Harvest

 "I wish you were drunk."

Wow. Three episodes in and we get a truly great episode. All three subplots here deepen the series' theme- the grim reality of negotiating life under totalitarian tyranny. And it's done superbly, with script, acting and some particularly creative direction.

So we have Dedra meeting Syril's overbearing mother for the first time, petty tyrant that she is. One one level it's satisfying to see Dedra laying down the law against the abuse of her partner... but she does this by using her position in the Imperial state, with veiled threats. Still, given the initial inequality between them, Dedra clearly sees her new partner as highly capable, a kindred spirit, and worthy of respect. Interesting, too, to hear about her background, raised coldly by the state following her parents' arrest.

There's the tension of the imperial audit, as the net closes in on the fugitives... and the awfulness of that creep from last episode first insisting on sexual favours from Bix in exchange for not arresting her, a promise he may not even keep, and then trying to rape her, leading to her defending herself and ending up arrested. This horrible scene has no doubt played out many times over history, an appalling thought. Cassian may come to the rescue- although not without casualty- but the sheer horror of this lingers.

Then there are the multiple horrors facing Mon Mothma. There's the looming and imminent threat of blackmail, of course, but that can wait a few days. Even worse, as shown by the early scene between her and Leida, as Mon is forced to confront what she's done. She's doing what she's doing to help the rebellion, but at the cost of a forced marriage of her daughter to some oaf. No wonder she gets drunk, like her own mother at her own wedding... and the trippy camerawork is exquisite. Just like Andor as a whole.

Andor: Sagrona Teema

 "I feel... undervalued."

The "A" story here, of many plot threads, is the one featuring Cassian himself, and a lot of action, as he uses both manipulation and opportunism to finally escape with the TIE fighter, free... but very, very late.

But the other story threads are, interestingly, far deeper, with the more action-based "A" plot freeing the other threads to be a lot more about world building and subtext. So, yes, everyone is worried about what the Imperial audit will uncover... but the way this develops, at least initially, is with a seemingly jovial Imperial lieutenant trying it on with Bix, being "nice" about it but expecting to get his own way sexually. Brr!

Dedra resents her new job with the Ghorman project, but she's told it's a real opportunity... although, in this context, an opportunity is a double edged sword. And she's also plotting things with Syril, who is as intense as ever- Kyle Soller is excellent here.

Then there's the wedding, and Mon Mothma slowly realising that Tay, falling apart after his divorce, is coming back to the well for more money, and likely won't ever stop. Even worse than that, though, is Perrin's speech at his daughter's arranged marriage, which is bleak as Hell. Forget love, expect discord, find happiness where you can...

As ever with Andor, it's not simple and you have to pay attention. There's a lot going on. But this is a very bleakly real world of compromise and suffering under a background of real tyranny. And it's utterly gripping.

Andor: One Year Later

"If I die tonight, was it worth it?"

Before I praise this episode, a bit of a whinge: yet again, a streaming service has debuted a much-anticipated new season by dropping THREE episodes at once. Can we not do that, please? Many of us do have lives, and there's a certain pressure to watch the episodes quickly to avoid spoilers. it's a genuinely inconsifderate thing to do. So don't do it again, Disney Plus. Oh, and Amazon, I'm looking at you too. For this, in relation to The Boys, and also Jeff Bezos' recent behaviour in inserting his tongue up Trump's malodorous derriere. Because how one chooses to respond to the jackboot of fascism is very much Andor's threme, is it not? (The Boys too, come to think of it...).

Anyway, we begin right on theme, with Cassian on a mission to steal a new model of TIE fighter- or perhaps TIE fighters themselves are new? Either way, we first see Cassian through the eyes of his accomplice, already a legend of the Rebellion after just a year. She's in awe of him, but some wonderful, world-building dialogue shows us, as ever, the scrifice of resistance. She can never go back after this, even if she survives, and her sacrifice will never be rewarded.

Elsewhere, an imperial census promises trouble for Bix and the others. Mon Mothma's daughter's arranged marriage proceeds as there is much intrigue. Tay Korma- now separated from his wife- wants to discuss matters with Mon, which seems ominous. Luthen is there, waiting anxiously for news from Cassian but clearly up to something. So much going on... as we see, in a long scene that seems to be a single shot. The costumes and decor, too, very much seem to evoke the late Roman Republic, which is a very obvious historical paralle.

And then there's the top secret Imperial plot, known only to a small group convened by the Emperor himself, to undermine the planet Ghorman and claim it for the empire. Not for its spider farms producing fine twirl, no: for its minerals. And they care not that it seems very likely to destabilise the planrt itself. Such is totalitarian. Indeed, our gimpse into the methods of the "Ministry of Enlightenment" is chilling.

And this is where Dedra is now ensconced.

Much of the episode, nevertheless, concerns Cassian, and best laid plans gone agley. Yet it's not the action and excitement that makes this such bloody good telly. It's the themes. Fascism and resistance. For those the other side of the Atlantic- and also many this side- this is a timely thing.

Andor: Rix Road

" Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that."

This is, if not unexpected in what happens, a tense and taut finale with lots of intense character moments as everyone gathers round for Maarva's funeral- with her fiery death speech inspiring the people of Fennix to rise against the empire. Hope may, indeed, lie in the proles.The riot is glorious.

Other sruff happens; Mon Mothma lays the ground of a cover story for her financial doings, but nevertheless introduces her daughter to that dodgy bloke's son in a possible forced marriage, Ouch. But it's mostly focused on and around the funeral, with Andor rescuing poor Bix and getting his friends a way off the planet. Interesting that Syril Kane should save Dedra from certain death. He clearly has not only ambition but a huge crush on her. To be continued, I've no doubt.

The ending is something of a cliffhanger; will Luthen, who will do anything for the cause, murder Andor to keep him quiet? Cassian calling his bluff is an extraordinary piece of acting from Diego Luna. And this is an extraordinary finale.

Andor: Daughter of Ferrix

 "Everything's all right..."

After last week's extrsaordinary drama it's back to getting all the pieces in order for the final two episodes. It's an episode of prep, not bnecessarily of action. So we get Andor and Melshi- and very possibly no one else- off that prison planet hellhole. We, and poor Andor, learn that his mother is dead. We, but not Andor, see that the funeral is being prepared by Dedra as a trap.

Yet the rest of the galaxy, under the Empire's horrifying totalitarianism, remains a prison. We are reminded of Bix's awful torture. Mon Mothma condfides to Vel how much trouble she's in, and how she will have to accept the betrothal of her only daughter to the son of a monster for the greater good, a particularly harsh example of the kind of brutal moral choices made routinely by Luthien- one of which is revealed to a horrified Saw.

Luthien gets the coolest moment, of course, as his little ship rather awesomely outmaneouvres a Star Destroyer.

It's all character and plot thread development with no fireworks. But the fireworks are coming. And yet again the world building is superbly on theme.

 

Andor: Narkina 5

 "You think the Empire stops to catch its breath?"

The episode begins like the Space Fall episode of Blake's 7 as a pseudonymous Andor and others are transported to a  prison planet, but soon takesa darker turn as we are forced to see the shher awful grind of life in an Imperial factory prison.

Yet the prison works also as metaphor for totalitarianism under Empire, with all civil liberties and natural justces eroding into utter tyranny. Yet, like a boiled frog, much of the populace, particularly privileged senators on Coruscant who, unlike a Mon Mothma desperately trying to hide her illicit funds, come out with statements like "If you're doing Nothing wrong, what is there to fear?" 

Yet all prison sentences are doubled. Arrests and imprisonment are, as we've seen, arbitrary. One is reminded of the vile, disgusting, tyrannical leaders of Russia, China, Iran, Myanmar, Belarus, Saudi Arabia and others. Palpatine is no different, but there is hope despite the oppression. As Luthen says, tyranny begets rebellion. And I suspect we're seeing that in the person of Kassian. Even Bix is arrested...

Absolutely first class.

Andor: Announcement

 "Watch your back..."

And so we have the aftermath. Luthen got what he wanted: the Empire has been rattled. On the one hand, some are inspired to resistance, such as Maarva. She refuses to leave with Kassian, inspired to work with the Resistance against the Empire.On the other hand, we have a crackdown. Hence Andor returns home briefly home to find Stormtroopers everywhere. And then, as an anonymous rich tourist, he is arrestedand sentenced to six years on trumped up charges.

Such is totalitarianism. And that's the side of the Empire that Andor shows so well. No Jedis. No magical thinking, just the hard moral choices one must face while living under tyranny. Some, like Mon Mothma, try and undermine it from within, but take enormous risks. The stakes are high. 

I see many parallels with Iran today- death to the dictator. Women, life, freedom! And with Russia- may Putin die horribly. Living under tyranny, it iseasy to conform, as Maarva kindly admits to Kassian; she makes no mora judgement. Why rebel if it means your kids will suffer? Such is the harsh reality. Yet brutality begets resistance. And glorious revolution.

I love the secret service intrigue on Coruscant, too, with Dedra this time getting the upper hand. But this is all very much Gestapo on Trantor. And I'm loving this very political approach to the Star Wars universe.

Andor: Aldhani

 "To put a real stick into the eye of the empire... and get paid for it."

And all has changed. The preamble is over. Sybil Kane- who will be back- and his gang of pathetic corporate toy soldiers are all sacked, while Kassian and Luthen are off into lightspeed. There's a nice early ideological exchange between them- the grizzled idealist versus the bitter, burned cynic- but Andor agrees to take on this desperate mission, a heist, with Vel and her gang of deserate desperados, whom we will no doubt get to know over the coming episodes.

We also get a good look at Coruscant, presented here as a kind of cross between Trantor and Nazi Berlin. We see Anton Lesser, charismatic as ever, as a kind of cynical yet efficient Gestapo chief, with two underlings jostling for power under him. We shall see more of them.

We also meet our old friend Mon Mothma, a young senator involved with rebel circles... and her politically cynical husband. It's like a Guardian reader having to be married to bloody Suella Braverman. A woman far more evil than the Emperor himself.

Tbhis is bloody good. Andor's slow start was the foundation. Right now this is pretty much perfect.